WAR DEPARTMENT, ADJUTANT-GENERAL'S OFFICE,

Washington, D. C., June 21, 1864.

Major General JOHN A. DIX,

Commanding Dept. of the East, New York City, N. Y.:

GENERAL: I am directed by the Secretary of War to inclose to you a copy of a report made by the Provost-Marshal-General in respect to the order issued by the provost-marshal of the State of Connecticut May 2, 1864, agreeably to your instructions in regard to the payment of recruiting bounty, a copy of which order is hereto annexed. The report of the Provost-Marshal-General has been approved by the Secretary of War, and in pursuance of his recommendation you are requested to countermand any orders or instructions issued by you in conflict with the report of the Provost-Marshal-General.

In making this order the Secretary of War directs me to say that the Department does not wish to deprive you of any efficient means for detecting and punishing frauds that may be practiced upon recruits in your department, but, on the contrary, acknowledges the benefit that your vigilance and energy in this behalf have already rendered to the service, and desires you to continue to give the subject your earnest attention. The regulation of the provost-marshal, however, is regarded by the Governor of Connecticut as being in hostility to the statutory provisions of that State, and as impairing, if not altogether hindering, his power to aid the Government to recruit in his State. No one can better understand than yourself the importance of the Federal and State authorities harmonizing in regard to the machinery to be employed in the important business of recruiting, and it is with a view of removing what appears to have become a serious complaint on the part of Governor Buckingham that the Secretary deems it advisable that the regulation prescribed by your instructions should be relaxed upon the assurance of the Provost-Marshal-General's report that the order is not essential for protecting recruits against imposition.

I am, general, very respectfully, your obedient servant,

E. D. TOWNSEND,

Assistant Adjutant-General.

[Inclosure.]

WAR DEPT., PROVOST-MARSHAL-GENERAL'S OFFICE,

Washington, D. C., June 20, 1864.

Honorable E. M. STANTON,

Secretary of War:

SIR: In accordance with your order I have examined the inclosed correspondence between His Excellency Governor Buckingham, of Connecticut, and Major-General Dix, commanding Department of the East, and respectfully report on the same as follows:

First. The order issued by General Dix which caused this correspondence is decidedly prejudicial to the interests of the recruiting service. General Dix's desire evidently is to prevent frauds and secure to recruits all the bounty provided for them. In this Governor Buckingham does not differ with him, nor does any other honest officer. It is, however, a well-established fact that no material success will at this time attend volunteer recruiting without the intervention of recruiting agents. General Dix's order in this case cuts them off, and though it prevents frauds, it stops recruiting--it cures the disease by killing the patient.